Due to budget constraints last summer, the MTA had to move forward with a doomsday budget that left numerous bus and subway lines being discontinued or rerouted. While much of the expansive subway system’s signage was changed, some things managed to slip through the cracks and reflect the previous subway lines that no longer exist at locations.

For instance, according to the drain pipes at Queensboro Plaza, the W train still makes stops there when the train line no longer exists (please don’t think that we’re suggesting that money be wastefully spent to change this).

Also, nearly all of the Braille signage has incorrect information at the affected subway stations. We’re surprised that we’ve never come across aggravated blind person waiting for the M train at Court Street.

Lastly, as of late September, which was months after the W train was discontinued, N trains were making announcements for a connection to the W train at Whitehall Street at 5AM.

All of this merely adds to the real life bizarro world that sometimes exists on the subway, and we’re fine with it.

This weekend saw the New York City area get knifed in the form of the MTA Doomsday Budget going into effect. Some of the many items of service changed was the discontinuance of the V & W train. This has caused us to once again see through modern technology that seems flat out pricey and not much of any help when placed on the subway.

Despite the fancy LCD screens and stop strips that the newer R160 trains in service have, tourists and those who are subway ignorant cannot seem to grasp where a train is going and are still as lost as ever — something that they used to get by doing without the added cost of two of these things per car.

But what’s more important about this whole thing is the fact that even though the W train service was discontinued on Friday June 25, 2010, we will still be able to find W trains in service — thanks to the new LCD screens.

Yesterday afternoon (June 27, 2010) we rode an N train out in Brooklyn that was labeled an N on the outside and a W on the inside. This simply goes to show that despite all of the overpriced LCD screens and the lacking of fiduciary responsibility at the MTA, the W train will live on for the next 40 years as these new R160 trains stay in service.